Earlier this month, during a moment of weakness, I splurged on some lovely Posh Yarn. 6 skeins of Bonnie Aran to be precise. On a whim I’d decided I wanted to try my hand at making a jumper and oh! What a coincidence, it was the day of the weekly Posh Yarn update. For those not in the know, yarn from Posh is highly coveted and once a week, on a Sunday evening, a selection of yarn goes on sale on their website. Getting what you want can be a bit of an elbow fight but that just adds to the excitement! The thrill of the chase somehow makes you want that yarn all the more.

So I sat there with bated breath that Sunday evening, my fingers itching as I waited for the clock to strike 7 and the update to go live. My heart began to thud as I refreshed and the buy button appeared next to that precious yarn I wanted. Several furious clicks later and… success! The yarn was mine, hurrah!

Two days later and a delicious pink package bursting with yummy yarn arrived at my door. Bonnie Aran is an Aran weight yarn (if you hadn’t guessed) made from 100% BFL wool and wow it smells sheepy! The colour, Another woman’s shoes, is a very autumnal rusty brown and just perfect for this time of year. I’d best get cracking on that jumper then!

Having never knitted anything larger than a sock or a hat, I initially wanted to find a simple, plain-ish pattern to ease me into the world of garment making. Then I fell in love the lacy cable-y beauty that is Julissa. Take a look at the pattern on Ravelry and prepare to swoon. Nothing like jumping in at the deep end!

I was making an iCord recently when the idea struck me that if I made one large enough I could slide a biro inside to make a cute yarn-bombed pen. Now I don’t know about you but when I get a crafty idea I have to stop what I’m doing and try it out immediately. Away went my current project, out came some more needles and yarn and hurrah, it worked! As soon as I stitched the end up I knew it would look even better with some kind of embellishment attached. What better than a large fluffy pom pom?

What do you think of my pom pom pens? Would you be interested in a tutorial on how to make them? Let me know and I’ll write one up.

Do you have a secret stash of poorly chosen yarn purchases? This is my embarrassing collection of acrylic. See, I have two stashes. The stash that I’m proud of, mostly composed of hand dyed sock yarn, gets treated with love and affection. Then there’s the stash you’re looking at that gets stuffed in a bag and hidden a dark corner never to see the light of day.

I’m sure I’m not the only knitter to make some dodgy purchases when first starting out. When the craft was new to me I hadn’t a clue about different fibres and weights, all I was looking for was something cheap and colourful. In fact, the cheaper and more colourful the better. So I amassed the above with grand plans of knitting all the things in an array of eye-blindingly bright colours. I soon learned the error of my ways when I felt the quality of the more expensive natural yarns compared to my cheap, man made collection.

So, what to do with all this yarn that has been sat gathering dust for the best part of two years? I don’t want to throw it away, that would be too wasteful. I could give it away but I doubt anyone would want it in the jumbled up state it is in. Only one option left then, I have to find some way to use it.

Over the next few weeks and months I’m going to make a conscious effort to find little projects that aim to use up this stash. Why don’t you join me? If you have any stash busting project ideas, please share!